Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the backlog of probate applications.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Despite the unprecedented challenges faced by the probate service during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the increased volume of applications that have been seen since, the average length of time taken for a grant of probate following receipt of the documents required has been maintained at between five and seven weeks.
HMCTS has increased resources to meet the higher demand and is further increasing resourcing to reduce outstanding caseload back to pre-Covid levels and further bring down overall timeliness on digital and paper applications.
The improvement of the online probate system remains a priority for HMCTS, to ensure more applications can be issued first time and resources can be focused on reducing waiting times.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding his Department has made available to organisations that provide support to victims of (a) domestic violence and (b) sexual abuse based in the Leeds area in each of the last three years; and if he will increase that funding in response to the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
MoJ does not hold specific funding data for Leeds, as funding for local support services for victims of crime is provided to West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner covering all of West Yorkshire.
In the last three years, the funding provided to West Yorkshire PCC by the Ministry of Justice for local support services for victims of crime, including Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence is as follows:
Financial Year | Funding Allocation |
2018/19 | £2,672,833 |
2019/20 | £2,664,803 |
2020/21 | £2,712,200 |
In the last three years, the funding provided through the Ministry of Justice Rape Support Fund to rape support centres in West Yorkshire is as follows:
Financial Year | Funding Allocation |
2018/19 | £250,532 |
2019/20 | £389,005 |
2020/21 | £906,772 (inc. £323,264 COVID-19 funding) |
In 2020/21 MoJ provided an additional £770,000 in emergency COVID-19 funding to West Yorkshire PCC to provide additional support for domestic abuse and sexual violence service providers to maintain support during the pandemic.
On 1st February 2021, in addition to the core funding for local commissioning of support services for victims of crime, the Government announced a further £40m for victims’ services. This funding will include £11 million for local community-based sexual violence services and £9.7 million for domestic abuse services. It also includes £16m to expand further the availability of Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers. We are in the process of agreeing the core and additional allocations for 2021-22 that all local areas will receive.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how the wishes of victims of a crime perpetrated by a foreign national offender are taken into account when considering whether to deport that offender to a foreign prison.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
It is the Government’s position that, wherever possible, prisoners should serve their sentences in their home countries, reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer. A number of factors are taken into account when deciding whether to remove foreign national offenders to serve the remainder of their sentence abroad, including the wishes of victims or their representatives. It is our normal practice to inform victims of the possibility of the transfer of an individual and to give them the opportunity to make their views known.